If you encounter any problems with your CD-i system or have difficulty operating some software for CD-i then post your problems here. With help from the CD-i community and the vast resources hosted on the CDinteractive network we should be able to solve any trouble your experiencing.

Hi I just got a Philips CD-i PAL version... 220/60
I couldn't get any video to work on my plasma tv so I just hooked it up to the older square tv. it's hd compatible but i'm just connecting it via the yellow/red/white wires.

Anyway I was happy that it seemed to work on the old tv!! But everything is in black and white...

I'm using an NTSC tv as I'm living it up in Canada.

So to sum it up:
-Philips CD-i 220/60 PAL
-square philips TV NTSC
-video only outputs in black and white

Thanks so much if anyone can help me with this... very excited to get using this thing!

I'm afraid the difference is because of the PAL / NTSC mismatch, at least that's usually what we get in Europe if you connect NTSC equipment to PAL-only displays. But a lot of modern displays are dual-standard nowadays.

Cool thanks!
I'll find the manual for my plasma tv and hope for the best... i tried hooking it up again to the plasma but it still gets no signal. Could I maybe have to enable 16X9 before hooking it up? I mean if I enable 16X9 on the suqare tv (in black and white) and then try again with the plasma?

Yeah I'd never seen one of those euroconnectors before getting this cd-i. There's another tv in the next room but it's usually being used for crappy shows. But if I get a chance I'll try it out on tv number 3 haha. This final TV i have is a 54" plasma... it's the newest and best in the house.

It's not my last hope, i'm still pretty happy just that the machine works as well as it does! Worst case scenario, play some games in black and white I guess.

Well, if that didn't work there's always another way. IIRC the CD-i will output it's video in a RGB format which is then converted to PAL or NTSC via another chip. This chip can be switched to NTSC mode with some soldering. I think I did this once a long time ago, but I'm not sure anymore which model CD-i player it was

So basically you'll have to research that yourself and no guarantees that it will work .

My scanner is inoperable right now but in the 210/40 and 220/60 there are two input signals for the IKAT processor that have either a pullup or a pulldown resistor of 10k:
- pin 18 (PD1) pullup (3272) is labeled "ONLY FOR DISPLAY CDI 220"
- pin 18 (PD1) pulldown (3273) is labeled "ONLY FOR DISPLAY CDI 210"
- pin 58 (PC7) pullup (3203) is labeled "ONLY FOR NTSC"
- pin 58 (PC7) pulldown (3204) is labeled "ONLY FOR PAL"
The IKAT processor is the MC68HC0518 (7201).
It is a smaller square chip close to the large square 68070 cpu (7210).

Changing these inputs will change the software side of things (translation: it works in CD-i Emulator); whether or not this generates a working video signal remains to be seen. Most of the video processing stuff is digital and has no PAL/NTSC dependencies, but the analog part has little filtering differences...

Edit: I do not have a 220/60 but I do have a 210/40 which according to the service manuals has an identical main board. I'll try opening it up this weekend, don't know yet if I'm bold enough to try the soldering thing on it...

I opened up one of my 210/40 players (I turned out to have two!) and performed the soldering. The full picture series can be seen here.

Service manual cutout showing the two resistor pairs.

The four new wires (+5V, GND, PD1, PD7).

I still need to obtain and connect two 10k resistors and two switches.

Now for the interesting question: did it work?

At least for the PAL/NTSC switch it seems to: the composite output will now display gray on my PAL TV, which usually indicates NTSC, and the software runs in 240 lines / 60 Hz mode as expected.
Note that the euroconnector (SCART) output still displays color, but that is to be expected as it includes component video signals. My player does not have a Y/C output so I cannot test that.

I have so far not seen any differences resulting from the 210/220 switch.

According to the service manual, the main board should be identical between the 210/40 and 220/60 players. There may be some differences between the physical layout of the players, of course.

To perform this procedure you will need a set of TORX (Philips) screwdrivers and electronics soldering tools, but the procedure is not complicated although it requires a bit of care.

Hope this helps!

Edit: Fixed the picture series link.

Last edited by cdifan on Sat Oct 15, 2011 4:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.